I am busy but happy. I’m meeting deadlines and preparing for things well in advance. I miss my cat. I am feeling pretty and smelling nice (yay perfume). I am saving up for a comfortable chair of the type I have gotten used to studying in. I am helping reestablish Steph’s forum. I am looking forward to Tai Chi classes. I am making friends. I am learning.

It’s pretty awesome. :)

Today’s list:
UNH app (srsly)
AmGov assignment (before Friday, anyway)
transcript (kinda anytime)
laundry

To do tomorrow today:
Go to mail room, figure out what happened to my mail (and pick up package)
Go to administration building, drop Archaeology
Get transcript sent to UNH
Finish UNH essay
Send out thank-you card
Work on weekly assignments
Fix assignment notebook after dropping Archaeology
Go to the gym, lazy bum (bring Perry with you)
Go to bookstore, get 3-hole punch and highlighters, return Arch. books

YEAHHH FINALLY WENT TO THE GYM I feel sweaty and icky and awesome. XD Didn’t do much, feel great anyway - fabulous. I think I will start watching bellydance instructional videos on Youtube and try to work my non-existent abs. :D The mental image of me trying to bellydance makes me want to puke, but that’s all the more reason to do it! Must get in shape! Have signed up for two gym classes! (ahah yeah, dropped Archaeology and added Tai Chi. I am crazy.)

Being this swamped this early in the semester is crazy. Fortunately, I’m mostly this swamped because I over-scheduled. I think I will drop Archaeology - it was meant to be a fun class, and won’t be useful later at all, and it’s not nearly as enjoyable as I thought it would be. My morality class is way more exciting. Heck, my mandatory Human Communication class is more exciting. So it’s not a loss in any sense.

To do tomorrow:
Go to mail room, figure out what happened to my mail (and pick up package)
Go to administration building, drop Archaeology
Get transcript sent to UNH
Send in UNH app
Send out thank-you card
Work on weekly assignments
Fix assignment notebook after dropping Archaeology
Go to the gym, lazy bum

More things I’d love to get in a care package:
A mesh “delicates” laundry bag
Origami paper
Stamps
VO5 shampoo
Edamame (I have been craving boiled edamame like crazy)
Pet hair/lint roller

Things I need to pick up at the campus store today:
laundry detergent (if they even have it)
feminine supplies
three-hole punch
highlighters

Things I need to do today:
Finish Bio reading/highlighting
Do Moral and AmGov readings
Finish UNH essay
Go to campus store before it closes after it opens at 5pm wtf

I have been watching CNN a fair bit lately, mostly because my campus is covered in TVs still tuned in from the inauguration, and I caught one of their “news” tidbits that had clips from several people such as Naomi Wolf discussing how President Obama’s job creation plan is sexist. I found a related Op-Ed article in the NY Times that covers the topic quite nicely. The arguments I have heard so far boil down to this: the proposed jobs are in fields that are traditionally male-dominated, such as construction and alternative energy.

Then I came across this: the job creation plan is actually skewed towards women even though women were less affected by the recession than men. According to the figures in the article (which are cited from this pdf file), it goes like this: of the total number of layoffs, 80% were men and 20% were women. Overall unemployment rose 2.3%, but women’s unemployment rose 1.6%. Of the proposed jobs, 42% are considered likely to go to women. Also, jobs are not just proposed in construction and engineering, but also in health care and education.

I saw that CNN show this morning. The study showing bias towards women came out two weeks ago. I call bullshit.

Annie Chun’s udon soup bowls
Venus razor blades
Maple syrup
Dried apricots
Beef jerky
Acetone
Argyle fake nails from Rite-Aid
Clear nail topcoat
Pants + undies
Encouragement

I am slightly overwhelmed already. I was up until 11pm last night doing homework, and I didn’t procrastinate. I just have that much homework. But this partial week was rushed to begin with, so I’m making myself a schedule of… well, basically the rest of the semester since my classes were kind enough to give me assignment schedules. I admit that I am a little scared and a little joyous - I really was bored last semester, and now that Haley and Stacey moved into the same room, I don’t spend nearly as much time with them. But it is also intimidating. We have two big speeches in Human Communication, and I already chose my topic for the persuasive one - I will be arguing for the abolishment of marriage as a civil institution. I am debating whether to go so far as to replace it with civil partnership, or to just stick with the abolishment. Added difficulty: my teacher was a pastor for 30 years. He seems very excited about the project, though. I doubt many people get creative in his class.

I had the opening to Fortunate Son stuck in my head last night, and it took like half an hour to figure out which CCR song I was thinking of. So today it’s all Creedence, all the time. I should go to the gym. Sigh.

I have settled on a meal plan for myself which I hope I will actually keep with. I suspect I should cut back on dinner… For posterity, it is as follows:

Breakfast
Eggs (one great heaping pile)
Potatoes (approx. one potato’s worth)
Fruit (usually half a grapefruit)
A tall glass of chocolate milk

Lunch
Salad (spinach, tomato, green pepper, black olives, chickpeas, beets, cucumber, kidney beans, cottage cheese, and/or approx. 1tbl. vinegar)
A single portion of hot food OR a sandwich (turkey, lettuce, tomato, cheese on wheat)
At most one cup of hot food
A tall glass of unsweetened tea

Dinner
2-3 hot foods, preferably from the vegetarian/healthy options
A tall glass of unsweetened iced tea

I also plan to exercise on Mondays and Fridays after classes are done - I finish up at noon and we all get together for lunch at 2, so that’s plenty of time to work up an appetite and get back and forth between campuses. I’m also trying to do small exercises while I study - mostly clenching my abs until I want to cry from the pain. XD At the gym I should mostly leave off the leg exercises, except for the elliptical. I want to actually be able to climb the rock wall when that class starts, after all. I am very not enthused about going to the gym alone, but what can you do.

I ended up going to the library to watch, because they claimed to be having a small party. At just before 11, I was literally the first person there, and I promptly sat down to watch the coverage of the crowd (CNN got bored of waiting, I guess). I loved the voice of the guy announcing VIP arrivals! So dramatic. :D And then he kinda stuttered on the group Bush was in, that was kinda funny. And then the inaugurations… Biden was so excited, I loved his expressions. XD The Simple Gifts arrangement was lovely and kind of surprisingly star-studded. I thought it was a wonderful choice of song, even without vocals. And then, oh man, Obama swearing in. When they said “please stand,” by god, everyone in the library stood. And yes, I cried a little, and everyone was cheering and clapping so loud I couldn’t even hear what the TV was saying, and it was turned up to max volume. It was wonderful. I hope I always remember it.

I get to write a small paper on his speech this week. I am inordinately pleased - I may end up dropping Archaeology, though, it sounds really scary now that we’re getting into it. It is the only class for which I have homework before the class starts. Also the crap I had to print for it cost me two bucks, which is REALLY ANNOYING because teachers get to print for FREE and she’s all like PRINT IT UP BITCHES. Add to that the fact that she wants us to print up a page of key terms for each class and AmGov wants a paper a week, and I think I will be doing a lot of printing this semester. Sigh.

I had a wonderful 23rd birthday! I must keep reminding myself that I am 23 and the year is 2009, because I keep forgetting. I am usually very confused about the year and my age from November to March, so I’m doing rather well this year. :D

In honor of going back to school in a week (and also being excruciatingly bored), I am reading Naomi Wolf’s Give Me Liberty.  It’s very interesting, although the style is stilted and alternates between too formal and too dumbed-down, and sometimes both at once. I am very much enjoying the concepts introduced, and I find myself pausing now and then to consider her points and whether I agree with them rather than simply taking it at face value. I very much liked the careful treatment of the Declaration of Independence, and the primer on how to run for office (and the roadblocks and fees one will face) is just awesome. Oh, political enthusiasm, I will enjoy you while you last, until I am older and bitter and woefully apathetic.